


Yellow Brick Road

by Naruzeldamaster



Category: RWBY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-08-08 05:03:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16422920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naruzeldamaster/pseuds/Naruzeldamaster
Summary: Tin man has lost his heart, and he's traveled to a strange land, needing his brain to find it. The cowardly lion fears her might and has lost her courage, seeking solace by relying on others. Toto for lack of a better word, a one track mind with too much energy to deal with. Scarecrow has the heart that Tin man is missing, and needs to grow up to find a way to restore it. There was something about a rogue AI from Mantle's time in there at some point too, but that isn't all that important. Everyone's still off to see the wizard after all, and hopefully finding the missing pieces of their lives. This is the story of team DOTY.





	1. Tin Man VS Scarecrow

Amber and her mentor, Qrow had been surveying Emerald Forest for a while now; and even if they had found some ruins among the untamed landscape something felt off. If it was a normal recon mission, any greenhorn hunter or huntress could manage it alone. The Grimm inside the forest were easy enough to dispatch, her year of training at Vale's hunter academy, Beacon had proven that. The wild beasts were bloodthirsty monsters of varying shape, size, and species. She had fought Nevermore, Grimboars, Grimbears, and even taken down Baeowolfs on her own. The beasts themselves were dangerous to civilians without a semblance, which was why Hunter academies exist at all. Ozpin, the dean of the college was deadly serious when he gave her this mission. And that man was pretty calm in demeanor, not nearly as laid back as Qrow Brownen usually was; though that was mostly due to Qrow typically being half-glazed. 

Amber wiped sweat from her brow. "Ok, we've been doing 'recon' for over an hour, and this is the third day in a row of said recon. I'm pretty sure I could name just about every pine tree, abandoned dust mine, and Grimm nesting ground in Emerald forest at this point," She was starting to think there was more to this mission than keeping the Grimm population of the forest to its natural numbers. "Even if it is part of my training as the Summer Maiden, there's got to be a deeper meaning." On top of normal schooling, she had additional training to hone her newly awakened Maiden abilities of the summer variety. 

"Ok, you're starting to get what being a hunter is all about kid, so I'll tell ya," Qrow chuckled a bit as he said it, she really was catching on. "The boring version is cause old Ozzy said so, the fun and actual excuse is cause Admiral James posted the exact same recon mission as a personal request to me a week ago." He explained with a half-interested tone before taking a quick sip from his flask. 

“So Ironwood put you up for this; and you ignored him until Ozpin noticed something janky in these woods, why?” Amber was a little bit confused as to why a personal request from the military was ignored but all Ozpin needed to do was ask nicely.

“Look, I'm not gonna mince words here; Ozzy is a great man, and a good friend, but sometimes he can get a little...passionate in his dedication. It's not because I don't trust Oz, it's because I do trust em' if that makes sense. Hold up-” Qrow stopped a moment and glanced off into the distance, letting out an annoyed sigh.

Amber had heard those howls before, an entire herd of Baeowolf but not only were they running toward them, they were doing so in a large number. They typically only behaved this way if they were going on a hunt, or their territory was threatened. She didn't have much time to consider the source of the tremor-inducing impact sound off in the distance, she needed to be a Huntress. She was about ready to strike a small grimmboar, but Qrow put an arm in front of her before she could. 

"But even more Grimm are coming this way, we should be preparing for battle!" And the large crow-shaped shadow that darkened the skies however briefly was definitely a Nevermore, she hadn't seen one up close yet, they looked a lot smaller in the books.

Qrow crossed his arms and stood in front of her, as the heard of Baeowolf ran around them. "Look, kid, I get that you're literally summer incarnate and all but simmer down and think for a sec." He paused for a moment, allowing the beasts to move along their path, they weren't showing any aggression toward him or his student. "What do Grimm have to fear, nothing, so from what and why would they be running?" He finished with a small smirk on his face after everything settled he could relax. 

“I actually paid attention to Port's lecture this time, and Oobleck's, they're either running from a stronger Grimm, a dangerous Hunter or Huntress, or something worse,” Amber froze solid when she sensed something strong approaching, it wasn't completely alive, and it wasn't a Grimm either. “What would be big enough of a threat to just up and abandon natural territory, something tells me that what is in this direction.” Amber walked past Qrow as the sensation waned, it certainly felt like an aura flare, but it didn't feel entirely human.

The pair eventually discovered what the Grimm were running from, a very large metal shipping crate like the ones used to carry copious amounts of dust crystals overseas. The crate itself appeared to have aged quite a bit, which was weird since it wasn't there yesterday. There was an impact crater around the container, and the grass had been singed away. It looked like it belonged to the military, but the symbol of the country and name of where it was from was rotted away by time. 

“Access denied, security clearance alpha required for entry.” It was a robotic voice, likely from a security system from the sound of it.

Qrow examined the crate further and sighed. “Think you could get it open?” It would be a simple task for the summer maiden.

“Look I'm a maiden in training, not your personal blowtorch; but fine, don't blame me when your semblance screws us over.” She stated seriously as she shook her head, she really just wanted this mission to be over.

The young maiden took a few steps back from the crate and prepared to use her semblance; concentrating her flames on the hinges of the gate and the outer edges of the door itself. After a few minutes of focus, the bolted parts of the door became red-hot steel, Qrow took a few swings at it with his scythe and kicked the door down. What was inside was both incredible, and obscenely outdated, it was some kind of military research labs. Monitors and consoles galore each keeping track of different things, geological data, weather patterns, if you could name it there was probably a console for it. The shocking part was that they also appeared to be damaged by time, yet they functioned normally.

Amber walked around the large table in the center of the lab. “I know a puma Faunus who'd have a field day in here, or ecstasy, whichever comes first. What do you think those large cylinders are for, they don't look like anything I've seen.” She couldn't think of anything they would be used for, considering both of them had different equipment for monitoring their contents.

“I'm no military or technology buff,” Qrow walked up to one of the containers and wiped some dust off of it. “Looks to me like they're some kinda medical unit, and you're right, this tech isn't like anything modern Atlas has that's for sure.” He finished as he walked over to one of the consoles that had wires from both containers linked to it.

"Qrow, if this lab goes kaboom I'm haunting your niece for the rest of her life," Amber stated sarcastically, Qrow was insufferable sometimes, especially when he had no idea what buttons sent signals to what device. 

“Go ahead, my niece loves a great ghost story, I'm sure she'd find it entertaining. Ah here we go, looks like this console activates er...whatever those things are.” As much as he wanted to pretend he knew what he was talking about, the bitter truth was that he was taking a childish shot in the dark.

The console did, in fact, activate the containers, revealing their contents after the dust was cleared away. Inside one of them a human, which made sense with the readouts it's monitors were giving, and the other contained something similar to a Centurion; humanoid robots designed by the Atlas military. The boy seemed about Amber's age, and he was wearing winter military gear that had been out of date for centuries. The table in the middle of the room lit up, projecting the life-size holographic image of a gorgeous fox Faunus researcher. Faunus were literally just another species of human, granted they also had varying levels of animal features from just about any species, hence the somewhat racist name. This woman simply had fox ears and a big fluffy fox tail and the kind of lab-coats military research and development crew would wear. Several holo-screens also appeared behind her, obviously, this was a recording for some kind of presentation. 

“Greetings, and, welcome to project Dragoon,” The woman stated, with the screens showing the mechanoid in the chamber performing various training drills. “This is Doctor Richter's brainchild, capable of performing incredible feats of technological evolution in mere minutes. As you can see,” The monitors showed the robot pretty much decimating an enemy army, even tanks. “Dragoon is highly advanced, and can perform many tasks, like disarming intruders like...the two of you.” The woman stated coldly as red lighting activated in the lab.

"Unknown target data detected-deliberating, deliberating; new protocol achieved, archive as much data about new targets as possible. Caution, the female teen appears to be far more competent than the drunken male in his mid to late thirties." The voice was feminine, though not quite as human or charming as the woman in the hologram, it came from the machine that was about to be unleashed. 

"Hey! I resent that assessment, I'm no drunk; I'm an alcoholhic!" Qrow was mostly being a wise ass as usual but he went through with a prideful pose anyway. 

“Ah, Qrow, I don't think this thing cares if you're either of those-we should probably move, like, right now.” Amber still wasn't sure what scared off the Grimm earlier, but the important thing at the moment was keeping their heads on their shoulders.

It was no surprise that Qrow had already bolted, thankfully the Dragoon unit was still powering up allowing for her and her instructor to make for a clearing large enough to fight in. At least that's what they had hoped, by the time they reached it the machine had already run into some Grimm and was taking them out with little effort. The only concerning thing was that it had elected not to use any weaponry, not yet at least. So Amber decided to take an initiative to try and keep it that way.

“That was fantastic, I don't think I could have done that lot in any better myself!” Amber had to force a cheerful smile, she had no idea what this thing could do.

"Error, error, this unit has only been performing its primary function; what is the function of this motion?" The Dragoon unit stated as it emulated the clapping motion on its own.

Qrow let out a sigh. “I hate to agree with bolt-brain here but what exactly are you doing?” He was almost as confused about Amber's improv as the machine was.

Amber nudged Qrow in the ribs with her elbow. “It's called praise, isn't that right Qrow?” She stated nudging him again hoping he'd take the hint.

“Oh of course-praising, that's exactly what you earned for fighting off wild beasts that surely would have bitten our heads off. You uh, really gave it to em champ.” Qrow opted for a thumbs up, but the message to the machine. 

“I...see, so this is a praise protocol; complicated body language, nothing this unit cannot handle. Executing inquiry protocol, what if this unit has found another use for this maneuver?” The Dragoon unit tilted its head slightly, it was still recharging its power source from fighting those beasts.

“Uh, whatever floats your boat and doesn't end with being blasted by laser-ow!” Qrow flinched when Amber bonked him with her staff, she clearly took after her mother.

"This unit is impressed with your hard work, your pacifism in the face of potential death has allowed this unit to fully recharge before studying its new targets." The Dragoon unit paused a moment as if it were making calculations. "Dragoon unit has mastered the art of sarcasm, ha. ha. ha." Now it was simply mocking the pair, clapping slowly as it covered up its exposed core. It had finished recharging thanks to the strong sunlight today and was now primed for combat. 

Amber sighed and shook her head. “That's impressive, no, really it is; and I know a friend of ours who'd be just as impressed. Would you please come with us peacefully so you can show him?” She asked with a bright smile on her face, though it was clearly forced.

“Negative, Dragoon unit only responds to its commander or doctor Richter, you are a civilian and therefore hold no authority over this unit.” Dragoon replied as it prepared to take its fighting stance in front of the pair.

Qrow raised a brow, this was obviously not going to end peacefully. “Well, since we have no authority we'll have to do this the hard way; good thing too, I was getting bored with recon.” He stated with a serious look on his face for once, preparing for battle as well. “Unfortunately this is Amber's training mission, so you'll have to settle with her first.” He knew he was going to get a lecture from Ozpin later, but he wanted to see what the maiden could do.

Amber wasn't exactly hoping Qrow was going to say that, he was one of the big name hunters on the continent after all. But she had a feeling it would be this way, it would be easier to report how a potential threat fights if they had an observer. She was a bit warn from yesterday still, so she decided to use her staff to focus. Since there was such a nice clearing she could really cut loose, with just a touch of self-control this time she managed to bring forth a strong breeze. Next came the dark skies of a summer rain, she was focusing explicitly shorting the machine out before it could do anything too crazy. 

"Caution; weather anomaly detected, calculating-calculating, source of anomaly detected," Dragoon unit stated as it prepared its arm cannon for a firing. 

“Try correcting this, have a little heat lightning!” Amber thrust her staff to the ground, pouring her energy into the air around her. “Any...second, big old bolt of lightning, yup!” She tapped the staff on the ground a second time. 

“Ah, Amber...remember the old saying about lightning never striking twice in the same spot,” Qrow paused a moment, that thunder was almost as far away as that container was from them. “and remember that thing about my semblance only bringing bad luck...” he finished with a bit of annoyance in his tone as he heard the second round of thunder.

"Third times the cha-" Too late, the dragoon unit had fired its arm cannon at her staff; she had wasted all that concentration all to dodge a boring old laser blaster from the palm of dragoons hand. "That was my favorite staff, looks like we're doing this the boring way then." This time she stomped her foot to the ground, creating a small crack in the earth between her and the machine, first steam burst forth from that crack.

“Uh, Amber, I don't think the flame pillar trick is going to work on this one.” Qrow was stepping backward, preparing to step in on the fight if help was needed, or rather requested. 

"Please, it's just a god knows how old robot; pretty sure steel back then wasn't as adva-oh, well that sucks.” She stood there with her mouth agape, the robot seemed to be functioning completely in the small sea of flames she'd wrapped it in. The flames fizzled out, almost as if they were reacting to the dejection she was feeling.

"That was quite relaxing; perhaps you could get a job at a sauna, ha-ha-ha." Dragoon was amused, it had turned an odd combat spectacle into a sideshow. "On a more serious matter, how did you perform that technique; clearly the staff was not required." It was actually curious since it did detect several out of place energy readings when the pillar went up. 

“Something you can't possibly understand, I used my Semblance, a literal manifestation of the 'self' or ya know, personality. You are just a program so, no adapting clever battle tactics from powerful hunters and huntresses okay?” Amber wasn't betting on her suggestion working, but it was worth a try.

Pretty much any situation was preferred over wrecking the woods any further than the local Grimm did. She was still hoping for a peaceful resolution to the issue, this thing showed potential to be reasoned with so it couldn't hurt to try.

“So if this unit developed a sense of 'self' this unit could, in theory, attain such a technique? Further, such prowess could be used to provide advantages in combat?” Dragoon questioned the human with moderate interest, it was rare for humans to attempt negotiation.

“Listen potentially globally dangerous robot, 'self' isn't something you can program, but to answer your question...maybe?” Qrow raised a brow, he'd never really been a huge technology geek unless it involved mashing buttons to win. 

“Affirmative, this unit,” The dragoon unit paused a moment. “No, I am Dragoon, a combat training unit developed to protect that which other machines cannot. To protect peace, I must combat war, and to do so I must collect new data.” Dragoon entered its fighting stance. “Engaging honor protocol, what is your name cadet, who is your commander?” It questioned rather seriously as it finished processing the information it could gather just from the way the pair stood.

“Uh, I'm Amber and this is Qrow, he's a mentor, not a commander. Though we were asked by an admiral to uh, retrieve you in a hopefully peaceful manner.” Amber gave Qrow a bit of a serious look as she finished.

“You mean we aren't telling Oz?” Qrow was actually surprised that she had said it that way.

“We're telling James because Oz wants to know, I think I'm gonna need some backup on this one." She couldn't help but wonder if it was Dragoon that Ozpin was after, to begin with, but she was probably thinking too much. 

"Now you're catching on, looks like we're going to have to use some Hunter-style negotiation bolt brain," Qrow replied with amusement in his tone, he had been itching for a fight today too. 

"Roger, engaging close range negotiation mode with the unit known as Amber; after which, the drunk will be made sober." Dragoon started its charge toward its opponent as it spoke, though it would have preferred a peaceful option these two really didn't hold any authority. 

Amber couldn't decide if she needed to snicker or wince at its response, the wince game first as she blocked it's left hook. She was expecting it to hit like a buss, but its strikes were precise, almost predictably so. It was easy enough to bob and weave through its martial arts, but stamina was a whole other thing entirely. She continued to change her tactics as often as she could, though it was nearly impossible to catch the thing off guard one on one. 

"What," Amber hesitated as she sensed something approaching, but returned her attention to the machine when she spotted its core, a glass cylinder with some sort of silver liquid inside. "So that's it, hey, mentor how about a little help over here!" She finished with a bit of exhaustion in her tone, she glanced at the abdomen of the Dragoon, the core was already protected by metal plating. 

Qrow slumped forward a bit as he judged their opponent. "Fine, fine I got it; let's see how old bolt brain likes this." He stated as he transformed his scythe into its rifle mode, while it's gun form wasn't near as elaborate as his niece's weapon, the long-range mode still worked like a charm. 

“Scanning,” Dragoon's attention was drawn to the source of the projectile, it had little time to scan the strange weapon before Qrow charged forward. “Adapt, defend,” Dragoon was in pure combat mode now, it's only focus were the two opponents. As it began to throw a punch at the new threat, only to find that it had clutched a crow feather. This was highly illogical, as it still detected two enemies in the area.

Qrow had flown high enough into the air in his crow form to allow a swift transition back to his human form, with his scythe in its great-sword mode. "Eat thi-oh...hehe, this got awkward," Not only had the bot predicted his movements, but it had also turned around in time to grasp the blade in its hands, stopping his descent. 

"Suggestion for tactical improvement, sneak attacks are named thus as they are often silent." Dragoon gave the man a strong uppercut to his stomach as it, the impact took some wind out of its foe's sails. 

To be blunt, Amber was losing patience with Qrow, she knew he was a bad luck magnet but this was just absurd. First, he activated the dumb bot, to begin with, then he somehow redirected not one but two lightning strikes and now the machine was adapting faster than they could counter it. She rushed to her mentor's side as he was flung into a tree, snapping it in two on impact. Unshockingly the man was still alive, she was a little impressed that he was still conscious after that gut punch. The impact was swift enough she could feel every psi of pressure just watching. It wasn't long after the exchange with Qrow that the machine somehow transformed it's exoskeleton from the centurion shell to slightly more organic form. This thing was definitely beyond the ability of two hunters, and certainly, a good reason for the admiral to be concerned about any rogue forces to get their mitts on it. If it could reconstruct its entire body in seconds there's no telling what else it could do fully loaded out. 

"Think you can stand Qrow?" Amber might have been impressed with his ability to stay conscious, but to see the famed hunter brought low so easily was underwhelming. 

“I think,” Qrow started to stand up, winced, and rested on one knee. “Yeah no, I think bolt brain busted a rib or two slamming me into this tree.” He felt pathetic, being caught off guard like that in front of the kid; the only way that'd make him feel worse was if his niece had seen it.

“So what, I'm supposed to stop this thing myself now?” She was more than a bit flustered, this thing was next level hunter business, not maiden in training punching bag business.

“Close range negotiation failed, data collection failed, adaptability of enemy technology scanned. You are no longer useful to Dragoon Unit, preparing full buster technique.” Dragoon stated as it put its left arm forward with its palm facing outward.

"I'm going to kick myself for asking but..." Amber trailed off, she could already feel the energy gathering from inside the machine, building and compressing at the base of its wrist. 

"Presenting the Full Buster arm cannon, a tactical laser launcher with many uses, its maximum power output can level a city block, thank you for testing this hardware, goodbye." Dragoon stated bluntly as it charged the canon to its full power. 

“I think not.”

Amber hadn't heard that voice before, it definitely wasn't Ruby, but it flicked by them almost as fast as she could've; and the voice belonged to a boy. She felt a semblance activate, just for a second in order to redirect the blast. Once the smoke cleared, it was that same kid from the lab, his legs and right arm were sparking with electricity and he was now wearing summer gear. What little motion she saw him make to crush the Dragoons left hand with his right one was almost frightening. It was a cold, calculated blow that shattered the rest of the dragoons forearm, causing it to reel backward. She was relieved about the save, but there was one thing bugging her.

"It's called an overdrive chip," The boy stated stoically without warning as he dropped the Dragoon's damaged hand, the rest of the arm had sort of shattered. 

“Excuse me?” Amber blinked and stared, he clearly wasn't reading her mind, so how did he know what she was thinking.

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "It's a small microchip implanted in my arm that allows me to absorb ambient electricity to power my drive units, which is how my legs and right arm move. Though it is puzzling how I managed to go quite this fast, normally that would take a bolt of lightning or two." The boy seemed inwardly amused, if only for a second before returning to that same blank looking expression. 

 

“Ahaha...about that-oof, hey, easy on the broken ribs!” Qrow wished he'd learn to keep his mouth shut at times like this, but then he wouldn't be Qrow.

Amber gave the strange boy a smile. "So, does our mysterious savior have a name? And would he mind telling us where he's from?" It'd be an easy way to remember him when they gave the report if they all made it out of the situation alive. 

“Savior would be stretching it, I merely saw a tactical opening to step in and took it. In short, it was the most anime thing to do at that moment. And now that you two know how dangerous my troublesome rival is, I don't feel guilty asking for assistance in taking it down.” The boy paused and turned to face her, she was roughly his age. “As for my name, you may address me as Tobi, no more and no less. I'm one of Mantle's more...gifted robotics and engineering experts.” He finished as he rolled his mechanical shoulder once, deflecting that blast really stung. 

“The most...anime thing, did he seriously just say that with a straight face?” Amber was completely blindsided by that statement, he wasn't entirely wrong but still.

“Did he seriously just say he was from Mantle with a straight face?” Qrow wanted to be the one asking the actually important question for once.

The introduction had happened so swiftly that Tobi's senses and comprehension had to catch up, thankfully they did just that pretty quickly. Dragoon had already augmented itself for combat once, that meant that this pair were fighting it or at least giving it new data for the last half hour. They weren't dressed in military clothes, but they certainly were not civilians. That meant they were either undercover, or there was a new faction he wasn't aware of. He also had no idea how long he'd been in stasis for.

"I'm not going to ask twice because it won't take long for Dragoon to repair its arm," He paused a moment, trying to find the quickest way to say it. "Who, or what exactly are you two, and what occupation would lead you to find my lab in the first place?" From what little he'd observed of their face off with Dragoon unit, they seemed to have some odd power. 

“We're ah, hunters...we kinda work like park rangers; er-ya know, keeping Grimm numbers down. We also make sure that civilians don't fall into danger from them, and other forces.” Qrow hoped that he'd phrased that right, it was surprisingly difficult to get a read on the kid.

“I see, and why do I get the feeling that explaining temporal displacement is going to take far less time than explaining exactly how long I've been in stasis?” Tobi wasn't wasting time mincing words, it wouldn't be long before Dragoon decided to get annoying again.

Amber's face went pale as the realization hit her. “Wait, you're from Mantle? The one from the history books; that Mantle?!” She couldn't be any more bewildered, he said it so frankly that it just didn't click from now.

"I find it hard to believe there could be any other near Utopian country by that name at the current time. I'm going to hate asking this but uh, precisely how many history books are we talking?" He wasn't bothered at all by the girl's reaction to his earlier statement, instead, Tobi was puzzled about the fact that she brought up history books. 

Qrow chuckled a little. “I'm gonna be blunt kid; enough to have every archaeologist and scholar worth their salt lining up to either dissect you or put you in a museum.” Well, perhaps that was a tad too blunt, but it was true.

"Unfortunate revelations of time travel aside, Dragoon needs to be stopped now; before it has a chance to evolve again," Tobi replied with a small shrug of his shoulder, he was unsure exactly how to digest that information. 

“What, you mean like how it made itself look more human? What kind of machine is it?” Amber asked with curiosity as she looked back on that near instant change, could it really adapt that quickly?

Tobi sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Technically there is no machine, it's a program, able to replicate itself and augment itself on a molecular level. Long story short, that exoskeleton is a skull, and that container I'm sure you briefly caught sight of inside its abdomen is her brain. I would explain the difference between male and female when it comes to programming AI, but I feel the knowledge would be lost on you." He finished as he put a hand to his chin, at least these two were curious enough to ask questions. 

"You ain't wrong there kiddo," Qrow stated while lazily scratching his neck with his free hand. "All we need to know is how to turn the thing off so we can bring it to Atlas for examination. Couldn't say why they want it though, I'm no tech geek unless it involves a directional pad and a tv screen." He wasn't all that embarrassed to admit that, his losing streak against his old teammate's kids was far more humiliating. 

“I do believe I introduced myself as Tobi mister Qrow, no more and no less,” Tobi stated with exhaustion in his tone, for a trained ranger of sorts he certainly wasn't taking the situation seriously.

“Well then mister no less, are you gonna tell us where the off switch is or what?” Amber was getting a touch irritated as well, especially with Dragoon finishing up regenerating its lost arm. 

"We'll need to use a close-range EMP, basically it's just a huge shock-wave of electricity released at once. Unfortunately, she's more than intelligent enough to fully counter nearly every diversion tactic I have. I could have stepped in earlier, but it wasn't focusing completely on you two at that point." Tobi explained with a serious expression as he stretched his arms by rolling both shoulders. 

Amber shrugged her shoulders. “Wait, if you know how to defeat this thing, why haven't you taken it down at this point?” She had to admit that it was a solid plan, get in close and knock out its power source. So what exactly was stopping him from using that plan himself?

Tobi sighed as he took a more centered fighting stance, instead of wasting his breath on words he would demonstrate with his actions. He began building power, using the leftover electricity from the two lightning strikes that struck his lab. As he did he braced his legs and put his right arm forward, resting it on his left for support. The Dragoon took a half step backward as if it were anticipating something. 

"Look, kid, a high five isn't gonna work from this dis-" Qrow stopped cold as Tobi's arm released an energy wave. Pure, blue-hued electricity concentrated toward the Dragoon, unfortunately, the Dragoon blocked the blast, forcing the electricity around an energy field. 

Amber stood there in bewilderment for a second. "Holy crap...that was basically a portable version of one of Atlas's rail canons, and...it's built into your arm." She blinked after she said that out loud, and kind of wondered if he also had a rocket punch. 

“A commendable effort chief bio-mechanics engineer Tobi, but you forget I was built to withstand damage from all forms of natural resources. If I was a human, I believe the proper turn of phrase would be 'get wrecked scrub'” Dragoon stated playfully as it stretched its limbs out in order to prepare for the next round of hand to hand.

“Did that bot just use nerd talk? Now I've seen everything,” Qrow stated with a slight bit of amusement as he thought about it. As annoying as a foe of this caliber was to fight, it was at the very least entertaining.

“Doctor Richter was an...eccentric man, and an enigma of personality on top of that,” Tobi sighed in frustration as his basic energy levels returned to normal, he really didn't want to waste it on a demonstration but there was no easy way to answer Amber's question. “Dragoon, I'm not saying this just as a chief engineer, I'm saying this as a friend; stand. down. So we can get you fixed up.” He ordered with as much authoritative tone as he could muster, adding actual emotion to his voice took considerable effort on his part.

“Negative, objective is not yet complete.” Dragoon stated firmly as it took a fighting stance, the time for negotiation was over.

"It's been complete for decades now, so many decades our country has a new name. There's no reason to be-" Tobi paused when the dragoon fired a small laser at him, it was a candlestick compared to his own arm cannon but his wasn't fully operational yet. "So that's how we're doing this, again, very well then Dragoon. As there are civilians here I plan to hold back, hopefully, that won't disappoint you. Get ready you two, it doesn't seem like she intends to hold back at all this time." He took his stance after regaining his composure, cracking his knuckles as he did. 

"What do you mean it won't be holding back?" Amber's thoughts stopped dead in their tracks when the machine took a step forward, then vanished. "Ah, that's what you meant..." She blinked as the bot reappeared, Tobi had blocked its strike but as a result, his feet had dug into the ground from the impact. 

It was at this point the dual with the machine resumed, between himself and his new allies Tobi figured he stood a chance this time. Tobi lead the charge with his hand to hand, making sure to not trigger the energy shield. Qrow and Amber would routinely switch between long and short range combat in an attempt to distract their foe. It was impressive what little teamwork he could arrange with these so-called park rangers, not many could stand against Dragoon like this back in training. Amber's flames only seemed to hold anger at her target, and it was quite hard to describe what Qrow's semblance actually did.

“Hey bolt brain, would you mind not shooting lasers at us?” Qrow taunted half seriously as he narrowly escaped a shot that would've otherwise hit him.

“Affirmative, ceasing pew-pew protocol, engaging ballistics protocol.” Dragoon chimed rather mischievously as it transformed once more, its arms now bearing small firing mechanisms and spraying lead shells at its target.

“...” Qrow could feel the dagger of Amber's glare despite the fact that she was using hand to hand in an attempt to create an opening.

"Great, a living probability magnet and a faulty one at that. I realize being sarcastic is your defining character trait, but you really aren't helping Qrow." Tobi figured his statement probably fell on deaf ears since the man attached to them had charged forward to strike Dragoon. 

Whoever trained these Hunters and the female variant the Huntress were quite skilled, though their tactics were probably unconventional. There was, however, a certain charm to this think on one's feet method of solving a difficult problem in a combat situation. What was likely mere minutes began to feel like hours, and only the forest seemed to be showing signs of the bout progressing. It seemed yet again Tobi had yet again underestimated Dragoon's ability, his heart sank briefly until hope appeared in the form of more stunning teamwork. A combined strike from both sides of the bot from Qrow and Amber, having no effect at first, but the shield finally cracked. Once he had his chance to strike, he couldn't help but hesitate. 

"Must complete...task, important mission given by Richter." Dragoon's vocal chips were short-circuited by the overflow of its shield breaking, it was impressed it managed that much. 

"The mission has been complete for a while now," Tobi stated coldly as he walked toward his rival, still maintaining his composure. "You've earned your bit of rest, so don't make this any harder than it already is." He placed his right hand around the cylinder that contained the data core for dragoon and prepared the electrical charge. When he released it, the shockwave mostly affected the machine, just barely knocking his new comrades off their feet. 

"Ya know the way you said EMP I was expecting something a little more...kaboom?" Qrow was a little bit confused, yeah whatever shock wave thing the kid released damaged the robot enough to shut it down as he ripped its core out but it wasn't as volatile as he had expected. 

Tobi sighed and shook his head. "That's because the core takes most of the damage from the electricity, whatever is left either ends up wrecking its robot shell or-" He winced when his cybernetics started sparking with electricity. "Well, that did more harm to my electrical components than I'd hoped, ow." He fell to his knees as he finished what he was saying, but quickly regained his composure and managed to get one leg to sort of help him get up. 

"Ow?" Amber winced out of instinct, seeing the sparks coming of her new cyborg friend made her glad she was fully organic. "You're putting off more sparks than a sparkler firework and all you're saying is ow? Qrow, contact Ironwood and tell him we have a...unique medical emergency on our hands." She moved to Tobi and heaved him over her shoulder as quickly as she could. 

"He uh, wants to know what kind of medical emergency," Qrow stated with an awkward tone as his old friend answered the call at the other end of the line. 

“The only doctor light can fix and needs the fastest transportation available kind!” Amber knew the guy was only asking for more information but the situation was a bit more serious at the moment.

“I can repair myself-if I can get back to the lab-” Tobi winced, something he hadn't done in a very long time. “perhaps I do require some assistance.” He passed out after that, which lead to some of the electric sparks from his cybernetic limbs dying down and fizzling out.

Tobi remembered very little of the next few moments after that point, but what he did recall were par for the course after a heated bout with his rival. He sensed his environment change once or twice and struggled to respond to whatever doctor was attempting to repair him. He felt a surge of electricity at least once, some clumsy mechanic was trying to brute force it. After that, a sudden chill hit his spine as a small, soft voice reprimanded said mechanic for being in too much of a rush. Aside from those few oddities, everything else was his systems rebooting and attempting to back up whatever data it could. There were moments where he was completely awake, but they were fleeting at best. In this state, he had no concept of time passing. Needless to say, he was not looking forward to being told how long he was out for, let alone how long it'd take for him to be fully functional again. 

“Ugh, what was I doing again? Right, surviving, and talking to myself apparently.” Tobi leaned upward, his cybernetic legs still too heavy to move them. “The motor drives are damaged, but everything else seems operational...now let's just see where we are.” He finished with a shrug of his shoulders, thankfully his right arm was fully charged and functional.

His vision was still a little bit blurred from the long period of unconsciousness, but he could get his bearings quite well. Even if most of his memory backup had failed, he could tell he was in an engineer's lab. From the looks of the equipment, consoles, and parts it was certainly no backwater garage lab but it wasn't some highly advanced military base either. Which frankly was a relief, both Amber and Qrow's reaction to him saying he was from Mantle didn't paint a great picture of exactly how long he and Dragoon were in stasis for. The equipment itself wasn't too different from his father's lab, though it looked almost heartless without the silly merchandise the old man kept around. Once the backup drive units were fully booted up he hopped down from the repair table.

"Hmm...seems to be a few seconds of input latency; I'll have to adjust that myself later," Tobi stated after he tested how responsive his limbs were with various workout stretches. 

"Heh, I guess I owe Chrome fifty credits; you're up and about way faster than the doctor predicted." The tiny, timid voice came almost out of nowhere, if it belonged to a snake it would've bitten him. 

Tobi tilted his head to the side slightly. “I never thought I'd run into a little grease monkey my age...with cat ears...” He knew the Faunus were a species, but the last time he had heard about them they were an extreme minority with population on the rise.

The girl had a small frame, one that made most ironing boards jealous. Her clothes were typical of a female mechanic, though not as loose fitting. The scent of soldering iron was present, and sweat as well, accompanied by grease stains in the usual spots with the top of her shoulders standing out the most. Medium weight work boots with steel toes matched her brown hair quite nicely, and the bifocals seemed to be a nice touch. Overall it didn't matter much if she was some species of cat Faunus. A timid, nerdy tinkerer who wore her passion for machinery so openly clearly knew her job. Being from Mantle he naturally had his own reserves, but at the moment she seemed harmless. 

“C-could you n-not give me s-such a p-puzzled look? I'm getting a bit nervous...I know you're from Mantle and all b-but." The girl stopped mid-sentence, blinking as Tobi approached her, with his arms crossed. "D-did I say something to upset you?" She wasn't really scared, more uncertain than anything. His movement was so calm and precise that the sudden change in stance made her actually nervous. 

“I can't be discontent, I barely remember my own name. Right now I'm evaluating your usefulness.” He opened the front panels of his legs, revealing their complex internal workings. “These drive units are damaged you see? The backup units are functional, but I'm straining them just to stand and stretch. I wonder if there's anything you might do to help?” Tobi asked with a monotone voice while directing her attention to the still sparking parts where the drive units were housed.

The Faunus took a step back and blushed. "You want me to f-fix those drive units? I-I can't, doctor Light is away right now and without his permission, I'll just get lectured again." She spat her response out about as calmly as she could. Which was incredibly hard to do when she had a stutter and was talking to a living piece of Atlas's history. 

“Your passion for machinery speaks for itself miss, I wouldn't be asking if I didn't have full confidence that you could do the repairs.” He was not interested in excuses, he just needed to be back to full capacity as soon as possible. “If this Doctor Light has any words for you afterward. I don't care how renowned he is; he can have them with me. Now please fix my legs, I have an important task to do which requires all of my abilities.” Tobi finished without a hint of his mild frustration showing in his tone or expression. 

 

"R-right away mister Tobi!" The Faunus seemed to perk up with confidence after that comment. "Hmm...the main drive units are pretty damaged; I don't know if it's possible to repair them. But the housing for them, and the location in the circuitry are similar to-Ah! I k-know exactly what to do, please wait a moment, I'm N-Naya by the way." Naya wasn't sure introducing herself was a great idea but he seemed nice enough. 

Though Tobi's initial interest in Faunus was minimal at best, something had piqued his curiosity about them. It had been a few decades, and while the new genome of human was fairly young; they were vastly superior. It honestly annoyed him that they were given a label, it wasn't like being white or black but an actual species name. It was already taking negative trends when Mantle was still around, he had no idea how bad the racism had gotten while he was in stasis. The concept troubled him a little bit, but being a single human there was little he could do to resolve the issue. As Naya returned with her large toolbox he sat back down on the table to make repairing his legs easier. 

Naya tilted her head a bit. “Tobi, you...don't want to be offline for these repairs?” She asked curiously with concern in her tone. 

“It is only three of my four limbs that are bionic, I can't just shut them down like some toy either. Were you not present when Dr. Light was repairing them?” Tobi was only being realistic, though to be fair only those three limbs needed repairing. 

"You can't just shut them down? How come, they're just prognostics right?" That was a bit surprising for Naya to hear, even Atlas's high-end gear didn't have that particular design quirk. 

“The control unit for them is interwoven with my nervous system, it's how I move them so easily even with minimal power charges on each of them. I can technically disconnect the limbs at their base, but the bases themselves are surgically grafted to my body. If I'm recalling correctly, the procedure was...not pleasant.” It was sadly one of the few memories Tobi had, and it caused nightmares once in a blue moon.

"T-that's...I don't have the words!" Naya was shocked, more that he was so open about it rather than what he said. "What kind of bio-robotics engineer worth their salt would come up with such a procedure?" She didn't intend to say that second part out-loud but the inventor in her was a bit furious at that. 

“The doesn't obey the laws of robotics and contributed fifty percent of my DNA kind. Father was brilliant, but he had his flaws like any other man.” Tobi paused and sighed, thinking back on it only made his half victory against Dragoon feel worse. “That's enough reminiscing for now though, please just repair my legs; I'd like them in working order as soon as possible.” He really wasn't typically this honest about his past, but something about the mechanic's demeanor made him less wary.

“Oh! Right, repairs are important too, it's my job. Um...just let me know if you feel anything while I'm working ok?” Naya asked with concern in her tone, she could sense she'd struck a nerve and didn't want to press further despite his flat personality.

"If I...feel anything?" Tobi crossed his arms and hummed in thought. "I'm unsure of what you mean by that. But if you mean physical stimuli regarding the basic definition of pain I'll be sure to twitch my leg and contort my face accordingly." He really wasn't sure what that phrase meant, he hadn't had any sense of feeling since the procedure he underwent. To the point where he downright forgot how to emote properly even when an emotion did strike him. 

“Hehe, that's a pretty funny way of saying that but ok, whatever works. Now onward to my secret mission!” Naya had said that last part underneath her breath, she was sure her invention would be in good hands for now.

Tobi was almost impressed with how quickly Naya set up her little portable repair station. She'd gotten everything in working order in just a minute or two. While she worked, she was certainly persistent in engaging in small-talk; a skill that frankly he sorely lacked in. The conversation, in general, was mostly one-sided anyway, it fascinated him that such a simple thing kept her focused. Every once in a while Tobi would have a chance to speak up, sometimes he remained silent and others he had a question. Particularly about the strange crystal that she had affixed to the power supply of the device that was to replace his drive units. 

It was a mineral known as Dust, a crystallized energy of varying elemental natures. The four basic ones were predictably fire, water, earth, and wind but newer technology gave rise to manufacturing combined elements like lightning or even light. It could be broken down into a powder and threaded into clothes for various effects depending on the user's skill with their Aura and Semblance. Solid items like shield plating or your average defense tool of choice would provide a boost in effectiveness. It really was a miraculous little mineral with unfathomable potential. Naya had just started a tangent about her own theories about the substance but froze as her cat ears twitched backward in an alert manner. Even though the repairs on both legs were complete she seemed to rush putting her tools away, she seemed to be a bit on edge as well. 

“Uh, I'll explain later...but hurry and close your leg panels up now ok?” Naya spat it out as quickly as she could, becoming more alert as footstep sounds got closer.

"I would ask why but judging by your sudden change in composure I'm sure I'd wind up kicking myself later for knowing," Tobi stated as the panels closed up and activated the thin hologram of skin tone. He was just relieved to have the combat functions of his legs restored. 

“You'd trust me that quickly?” Naya blinked in bewilderment, she had met people who played it close to the vest before. But there was being stoic, and then whatever enigma Tobi seemed to be.

"I don't know if 'trust' is the right word, however, you've given me no reason not to trust you. I'm not entirely sure I understand the concept, let alone that 'feeling' word you mentioned earlier." Tobi wasn't entirely sure of anything right now, granted dealing with a minor case of amnesia could do that to someone. 

Naya tilted her head a bit, now she was even more puzzled. "Eh? You mean you don't know the definition of those things or...what?" She blushed a bit when her selective hearing caught up with his compliment. "Hehe, I'll take that as a compliment, not that I go out of my way to leave that impression." He really was seeming less intimidating by the moment, but they were still worlds apart from being on the same page. 

“This nonsense again, you're just like the researchers back in my...time, wow that just hit me how weird that is to say.” Tobi tapped the tips of his left foot on the ground, time travel was confusing. “I know the definition of those things, and the biological component linked to them. But ever since that procedure I haven't been able to...express them I believe the term is. It's honestly frustrating, trying to make a program think like a human when I barely understand the human part of it.” He was hoping that was a logical explanation, he wasn't the type to want to explain things in detail if he could avoid it.

“Wait, then that means the person who actually programmed that Dragoon thing?” Naya was legitimately intrigued by that conundrum, that really would've been an odd type of person to assign as head of that project.

"None other than Tobi Kandzume, head of Mantle's finest team of bioengineering research and development scientists." The stern voice came from a rather well-built man in a white military uniform, the decorations upon his shoulder logically dictated that he was of high rank.

Tobi shrugged his shoulders. “You can add amnesiac to that title, at least for the moment. You must be this Admiral James that Amber mentioned a few moments before I passed out.” He stated bluntly as he examined the man closely, caution in his eyes.

The man was fairly tall, and looked middle aged judging from his facial features. He had broad shoulders, and was built like a machine had made him. Almost to a literal sense, since judging from how he moved James was far more robotic than Tobi was. It was hard to tell how much more, but his demeanor depicted a man who knew how to survive. What he lacked in intimidation factor for your average admiral, he made up for with a calm temperament and posture fitting for a soldier. He was too much like the man responsible for a lot of grief he and the other researchers had to deal with.

“Yes, the good Doctor Light did tell our mechanics the memory circuits in that chipset were badly damaged and had to be replaced. Still, your organic memory storage should come back in time, speaking of which. How much do you know about whatever technology you used to distort time?” James had to raise a brow, normally the reaction to finding out about amnesia would be either panic or grief. The young lad showed signs of neither, even with his professional training it was hard to get a read on him.

“Enough to get my over ambitious arse a one way ticket to a time period where what's left of my country is collecting dust in a museum and damage said technology beyond repair. Sorry if you had your heart set on learning the secrets of Mantel's tech. Even when I first arrived I barely remembered what happened before I was so rudely awoken by a certain someone's heat lightning striking the lab.” He had predicted such questions would come up, and despite his memory loss he knew exactly the right answer.

In all honesty Tobi wasn't all that miffed about the time travel tech being trashed, he had predicted such an outcome. What he was angry with was his father not having the foresight to build a backup machine as a failsafe. He had no idea how much of the lab was still functional, outside the shipping crate that he arrived in.

“So Qrow's hunch was right, Oz wasn't after the tech,” James stated underneath his breath, at least the boy was bold enough to answer. “I know you just came out of a three month long recovery from heavy repairs to your bionic parts. But I have a proposal, the four great nations are entering a colaberation of sorts with Vale. If you're interested I'd like you to take part in that colaberation, assuming you're fully repaired?” He made sure that there was honesty in his tone, with no sense of ulterior motives that the average kid his age could detect.

“The four great nations you say? This is intriguing, what exactly is this collaboration admiral?” Tobi was certain world peace wasn't achieved, the Grimm were still a huge problem and the Faunus as well were among his concerns.


	2. Nakama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much just a simple, story-forwarding chapter; the first week or so at a new school is rough. Tobi being a man out of time faces many barriers, including a several centuries old language barrier. Roman takes on his first big job (the canon events still happen) and team DOTY is assembled. Hopefully the rocky start won't lead to an uphill battle, my first attempt at keeping to the tone of Volume 1, hope I don't dissapoint.

“Well, all the nations have hunter schools, and every year there's an event called the Vale festival.” James paused for a moment, putting a hand to his chin. “Basically it's what you might call a final exam, after a few semesters of schooling the top teams in each nation are set against one another. The team that makes it through the tournament itself is essentially graduated at that point.” He finished with the same stiff demeanor that Tobi's father had.

"You're talking about a student exchange, with the political climate the way it is? The White Fang are becoming pests and the four nations can't decide what to do about them, let alone the Grimm issue." Tobi was pretty sure he knew where this was going as he finished his thought. James wasn't talking about a collaboration, that was just the social front; it was really just a way for each nation to stroke their egos. 

“If you know the situation with the White Fang then you know exactly what the purpose of the student exchange is. Beacon is simply attempting to smooth things over with the other nations, and we need to know why. Ozpin is a great man, but I'm not sure I trust his current mindset.” James explained with a bit of surprise in his tone, the boy was pretty quick on the uptake.

The more Tobi heard about this Ozpin, the more curious he grew. This was the second time the man was brought up as a powerful, trustworthy individual. And both times supposedly close friends were cautiously optimistic but equally wary about the man's shenanigans. With what little information he was able to gather from Naya and his own observations he couldn't resist the itch to play along. Besides that, a training school was the perfect environment to study this Semblance and Resonance nonsense the few people he'd met in the current century had mentioned. 

“I'll do it, also I just remembered something quite troublesome about my past. I believe I had a hand in shutting down a rogue robot yes? Where is it at the moment? It could be quite dangerous in the wrong hands.” Tobi asked with the same monotone voice that he'd had since he'd lost his memories, at least that's when the change seemed to happen.

"It is for lack of a better term, being dissected and studied at the moment. We just had to examine the technology it possessed. Don't worry though, we aren't just eggheads banging rocks together, it'll be in fine working order when we're done." James was a bit surprised at how calmly Tobi had taken the news of his amnesia. It wasn't exactly a normal condition like the common cold or the flu. 

Tobi tapped what would've been his right toe on the ground. "I'm not talking about the combat shell, codenamed Dragoon admiral." He paused and tapped the other foot once. "I'm referring to the core itself, the self-evolving AI who answers to Tessa. I was clutching a cylinder object in my hands when I arrived yes?" He didn't know why he needed to specify what he meant, it was merely a habit. 

"Under lock and key with several servers of firewalls and stored in an underground bunker with our nations highest security clearance. Nothing short of an army will even look in its general direction, let alone steal it." James stated with confidence in his voice and pride in his posture. 

"You remind me of my old man, and no that wasn't a compliment. Glad to see the cocky confidence of mantle has only grown finer with age. You say nothing short of an army, what about an ambitious moron with far more capable handymen to do their bidding?" Tobi wasn't even sure what people meant when they brought up hunches, but asking the question out loud made him think he was having one.

"Are you saying our security isn't tight enough without a tour of our facilities?" James raised a brow, the lad was certainly brazen to speak doubt in front of an admiral. 

“The opposite actually, the security is likely too tight. From what your little tinkerer told me Atlas is too reliant on metal and oil in the rank and file instead of ya know, actual rank and file.” Tobi paused when his right shoulder sparked a little. “As you can see, dystopian or not technology is technology. I'm actually a bit impressed though, typically full system repairs would take upwards of a year. Who was the head mechanic in restoring my limbs?” He had to admit that he was a little curious, sure Naya handled the basic repairs and some butterfingers got his power cores up and running. But the pair of engineers seemed like they wouldn't be able to work without direction.

“Doctor Ignis Light, we just call him doctor light for short especially when he's busy working. Naya, you look like you're trying too hard to speak out of turn. What's got you spacing out?” James asked as he noticed that she was being even more quiet than usual.

"N-nothing at all Admiral, well m-maybe kinda sorta a little something? Tobi's description earlier got me thinking about someone I and Chrome almost signed a contract for. He wanted a boomstick, so I built him one-but he also wanted it to be a cane. He didn't seem too important, just some dapper nobody in a white tux and a silly black hat. But he had enough stones to claim he was running e-errands for the White Fang? Can't imagine they'd ever trust a human, at least if he didn't have any sort of connection." Naya spit it out all at once, but at least she managed to remain calm while explaining her mental process. 

"A white tuxedo and a black hat, and a boomstick cane?" James put a hand to his chin and hummed in thought. "It's good to know you two were cautious enough to know better. I think that's all there is to discuss that man for now. Naya you should find Chrome and go help doctor Light with whatever big pipe dream he's scheming at the moment." James finished seriously with a bit of concern in his eyes. 

“You mean you want us to be your flies on the wall?” Naya wasn't entirely sure why she had enough courage to phrase it quite so bluntly, normally she'd simply nod and follow orders.

"No, I need you two to make sure he isn't up to anything obtuse. Besides he's stated several times in his reports how useful both of you are to him." James had a feeling meeting a new friend might help her out of her icy shell, but he was surprised for it to be so sudden. 

"Only because our room and board are paid for and we use our paychecks on food." She wasn't trying to make it sound bitter at all, it just sorts of came out that way. 

“That has very little bearing on your usefulness as well as your species. Talented hands are going to put nuts and bolts together regardless of how they were born.” It was kind of interesting to see a little of her bravery return. She had been so timid and frail since that little outburst in the lab a couple of years ago.

Tobi crossed his arms and glanced between the two. “James, I will ask this nicely out of curiosity once more. How exactly is the relationship between humans and the Faunus? If I am recalling correctly things were always dodgy. But never so bad that it required any sort of activist group like the White Fang you both keep mentioning." Normally he wouldn't be terribly invested in matters like this. However, the exchange between the admiral and his mechanic was getting interesting. 

"Activist group would be putting it mildly if I'm perfectly honest with you. Their hearts and motives are in the right places, but certain branches can be a tad on the extreme side. We even have equal opportunity employment for them now." James answered seriously with a bit of caution in how he phrased it. 

“For 'them' Admiral?” Tobi stopped to think for a moment, he did not like where this was headed.

“With twenty percent less medical coverage and tax prices explicitly for Faunus related products.” Naya was more or less thinking aloud at this point considering she said that one under her breath.

"Ahem, the four nations also came together and elected to organize a country for them." James had an inkling that this conversation was just going to go from bad to worse if he didn't smooth things over soon. 

"If you call a quarter continent-sized island in the middle of nowhere that's two-thirds desert a country." Now that one Naya actually did intend to sound bitter, but she didn't mean to say it quite so loudly. 

Tobi was growing a bit more fascinated by the exchange with every minute. In his time even talented Faunus were overworked and underpaid on top of being a minority. Now their population was likely on par with or even outnumbering the human race in numbers. The government was obviously genuinely trying to smooth things over. Unfortunately, the suits in charge were as always only looking at statistics and PR results. The conversation itself was utterly dull, a story he'd heard time and again from many departments of the company his father managed. Interestingly the pair didn't seem to be sizing each other up for a scrap. However he didn't need to understand emotion to know what empathy was, nor what was causing the rising tension. At the moment he could probably cut the tension with a knife, but the main concern was the notable chill coming from Naya. James likely was too far from where she was standing to notice, but it certainly wasn't his imagination. Logic would dictate that it was the air vent above her, but many things in Remnant didn't operate on logic. That cold chill slowly building up around Naya was coming from her. 

“Ahem, miss Naya you mentioned something called a manga cafe in our conversation yes?” Tobi tried to act natural, which for him was completely neutral and void of any emotional tells.

“Huh? Oh! I um, y-yes me and Chrome used to stay there when we didn't have anywhere else. W-what are you b-bringing that up for anyway?” Naya couldn't stop her eyes from lighting up at the mention of her favorite kind of comics.

"Would you mind going there and fetching me a few volumes to sample as long as it's the first issue? Assuming you have the admiral's permission to do so of course; she can do that and then go help Ignis with whatever he's cooking up correct?" Tobi wasn't sure what emotion to display in this situation, so he settled on giving the admiral an icy glare. 

"Ahh-er, yes, of course, she can run that little errand for you while I give you a tour of where you'll be working and staying for now." James was caught off-guard by the sudden shift of interest, Tobi had a sharp intuition for an amnesiac. 

“I c-can? Yay! I mean ahem, t-thank you so much for permission to do so Admiral Ironwood. I'll talk Chrome into helping with doctor light duty afterward of course.” Naya was even more elated to get permission to leave the grounds. If the subject hadn't changed when it did, she probably would've exploded. And last time she lost her temper like that wasn't good for her research.

"And just like lightning, she's off in a heartbeat. It's almost adorable seeing her so elated from time to time." James finally had a chance to breathe after Naya practically pranced out of sight. 

"If you're going to dig a hole; try bringing a shovel," Tobi uttered audibly with just the smallest little smirk on his face. 

“Er-come again?” James raised a brow, Tobi was a bookworm from his demeanor but he didn't seem like the proverb-spewing type.

"It's a figure of speech admiral Ironwood. A nugget of wisdom my mother would deploy whenever myself or my father were displaying foot in mouth symptoms. I believe it refers to having a way to get out of the hole you're in, rather than digging deeper." Tobi was actually surprised he recalled that it seemed his foggy memories were starting to return little by little. 

"Oof, I'd hate to take a jab at ya James but uh I think the kid's got your number already," Qrow stated with amusement in his tone as he entered the room. 

“Hello Qrow and what may I ask brought you all the way to Atlas?” James was unamused by Brownen's quip, though he did have a point. 

"Just here to deliver some information, we found spring," Qrow stated seriously after taking a sip from his flask. 

Tobi tilted his head to the side “You...found spring? I'm not sure I follow what you mean.” He was pretty sure that the four seasons weren't actually people. Sure he'd read the fairy tale, but that was just folklore.

\-------------------------[Three Weeks Later: Doctor Ignis's Underground Lab]----------------------------------

It was a pretty dull few weeks of work for Tobi, getting accustomed to the modern Remnant technology. The tells were all over the place why they called his tech anchient. So he settled on improving his ideas and working hard to aid Ignis in his research. Tobi's father was far too focused on the mechanical side of bioengineering, while his mother was the exact opposite. Doctor Ignis was much like Tobi, somewhere in the middle. Though his unrivaled passion for animated media was a tad concerning in terms of research priorities. 

“So did you guys get to see that new kid Doctor Light's got working for him yet?” It was one of the security guards on duty for the protection of Dragoon's core. The bunker itself had the best security around, and the few humans working the grounds were somewhat cocky.

“Are you kiddin? The runt leaves his workstation even less than the doc does, and that's saying something!” A more burly looking guard stated with a chuckle as he examined the full house he had been dealt in their game of poker. 

"Can't really blame him though; the kids been coming up with all kinds of great stuff. A fiber that can stretch to near limitless potential, solid light projection, even something called a satellite. What is launching a buncha hardware into orbit gonna do for us?" A more boy-ish security guard stated as he groaned in annoyance and folded, he had been dealt a poor hand of one pair. 

"It would be unwise to tempt fate, that boy has potential with all of his cybernetics. Still, the few times he has left the lab it's been to check in with security. A runt he may be but he's probably more capable than the three of you." The more business like security guard spoke in a firm tone, clearly an authority figure of the group. "I win, by the way, a royal flush." He finished with a smirk as he showed his hand. 

The other three security guards were somewhat dejected as they folded their current hands. After the poker game was finished they all went about their rounds as they usually did. The grounds themselves had several layers of protection. It was so well guarded that anyone who didn't know the facility would have just a hard of a time getting out as they would break in. They weren't entirely sure what the big deal with the Tessa thing was. However they were just nameless grunts, it wasn't in their job description to ask questions. 

"What's that alarm for? We usually don't get security breaches this far into the doc's personal storage warehouse." The scrawniest of the bunch questioned his partner as they passed it. 

“It's for the only purpose you'd put a security alert system this deep into the compound idiot. Didn't you get briefed on your assignment before you started your shift a week ago?” His partner asked in a dejected tone as he thought about it.

"Well yeah, but it's not like I read the entire dossier for how the security system worked. It's supposed to be the most advanced detection system we have right?" The scrawny guard paused as the alarm sounded. "Advanced enough to...trigger itself?" He finished as he crossed his arms and gave his partner a puzzled look. 

“Idiot! That means someone else triggered the alarm, activate the breech scanner and move some muscle. We're actually going to earn our paychecks today!” The brazen guard stated as he bolted toward the source of the explosion from afar.

Meanwhile, the four individuals responsible for the ruckus were standing a few feet behind the solid steel walls that previously blocked their paths were surrounded by soot. A dark tan skinned teenage girl with emerald clothes and hair, a silver-haired teen boy wearing a grey jacket and pants. Accompanied by a slender man in a white suit and pants wearing a black hat, and a somewhat voluptuous woman with black hair with a strand of white and some pink as well. The group had only just recovered from the explosion before they began their squabbling. 

“Mercury, I think next time we maybe use a little less?” The emerald haired teen questioned with her tone full of sarcasm.

“Come on Emerald, any less C4 and the steel walls wouldn't budge...what do you mean le-oooh, right, security guards.” Mercury wished he was kidding, they were greeted with a group of twelve security guards. Many of them were well armed, and their laser pointers were already trained on them.

"Well now, what have we here? A Welcoming party gentleman? Surely you must know who we are." The tall man was leaning on his cane as he spoke to them. "Smile for the camera Neo, we got work to do that doesn't involve-what do you mean what camera?" The man paused as his associate used sign language to communicate. "It's a figure of-and what do you mean what's a figure of speech? Are you being a wise ass?" He was mildly frustrated with her teasing, this was their first big gig and she was already making jokes. 

"Let's see Emerald Sustri and Mercury Black, some random guy and-" The leader of the security guards blinked and paused as Neo vanished. "Huh, she disappeared, neat." He hadn't really seen semblances in action before so he wasn't sure what to expect. 

"I told you she'd run at the first sign of trouble," Mercury stated bluntly shrugging his shoulders as he spoke. 

"Could you gentleman move aside, the big wigs back with the White Fang aren't paying me to deal with low-level grunts." The tall man chimed sarcastically as he tipped his hat to them in a mocking way. 

“Like a do nothing street thug could do anything against us, what's with the clockwork orange getup anyway? Ya plan on singin in the rain and doing a musical number?” One of the security guards knew exactly who he was talking to, and he was amused.

“Street Thug?”

“Oh dear, you pushed the angry button. Emerald, beat these mooks up before he actually gets angry?” Mercury's tone couldn't bear any more sarcasm if he tried as he gestured toward them.

“Don't look at me; I'm only paid to handle machines remember? Besides aren't you the son of some big name assassin or something?” Emerald asked curiously, putting a hand on her hip and shifting her weight as she did.

“And? Doesn't mean I'm paid enough to handle twelve fully decked out idiots for a boss who literally just got assigned to.” Mercury was entirely serious, he could easily handle four maybe even five guards. Twelve of them would be exciting sure, but he wasn't really in the mood.

"Teenagers," The tall man lit a cigar and began smoking it. "If you want something done right, ya gotta do it yourself." He pointed his cane at the guards and opened it's sight while aiming at the leader. 

“Oh look big bad Roman Torchwick is angry at us!” One of the security guards quipped playfully.

"Better watch out or the kids he's chaperoning might actually lift a finger." The leader of the guards chimed sarcastically as he started laughing. 

“I thought we had real intruders for once-gah...” One of the weaker guard's arms had suddenly been twisted behind his back. Both Mercury and Roman slowly turned their heads toward Emerald and raised a brow.

“Don't look at me guys, I can only manipulate sensory information!” Emerald stated waving off the possibility of her actually being that strong of a telepath.

It wasn't much longer before Neo had reappeared, he was the one twisting the guard's arm. Before the guards could train their sights on her she vanished again and decided to attack one of the others. Again and again, she did this, to the point where her fighting style seemed more like an elaborate dance. Though the dance itself wasn't likely to be seen too often at a ballroom hall, a nightclub might be a better place. 

“Is she always so...brutal?” Emerald winced as she watched a guard take a tumble, he'd be feeling that in the morning.

"You should see her in a bad mood kiddo," Torchwick stated seriously with a grin. "Put your toys away Neo, we've got actual business to attend to." He finished with a shrug as he returned his cane to its default state. 

“Ugh, and it was just getting fun too, fine...” Neo signed as she finished knocking out the last of the guards. 

"Uh, remind me to never get on your shit list." Mercury stared blankly at the woman, noticing her heterochromia as he did. 

“Can do!” Neo signed with a snarky grin, younger kids were a pain to work with but they could be amusing once in a while.

The troublesome four made their way through the compound they had broken into. The deeper they got into it the more layers of security they had to bypass, at one point they had to resort to crawling through the air vents. Either way, they eventually reached the deepest part of the compound which was loaded with several computer servers. Many of them were clearly for firewall protection and the rest seemed to be explicitly for outgoing data. Surely they would find what they were tasked to retrieve in this part of the compound. 

“Yooho, anyone out there?” The group jumped when the perky voice suddenly rang out.

"That's...weird, there's nobody in here but us," Emerald was thinking out loud, though she suspected the others had about the same reaction. 

"You're sorta right but also sorta not? It's hard to explain but why don't we play a game?" The voice obviously had a source, since the speakers in the room were producing it. 

“That would depend on the kind of game since we're sorta in a rush.” Torchwick was at least partially amused as he said it, they weren't in a super huge rush but they.

“You guys can roam around like idiots and I'll tell you if you're hot or cold.” The computerized voice explained in a matter of fact way.

 

The group nodded and decided to play that little game, hoping they would be lead straight to their target. They weren't even entirely sure what they were looking for since Hazel said they'd know it when they see it. Following along with the game eventually lead the group to the center of the compound with a large laboratory held within. Judging from the equipment and containment chambers it was some kind of genetics lab. The voice had led them to a large steel container with several layers of reinforcement. Oddly enough all of the security measures were aimed at keeping what was inside the container from getting out. The group jumped in surprise when an unidentifiable Grimm roar bellowed loud enough to hear it for miles. 

“Let. Us. Out. Hungry!” It was very beastly, and not digital at all.

“Uh, what in the world was that?” Emerald barely dodged away from the container quickly enough to avoid the large set of bone claws. They were definitely the claws of a Grimm, but she hadn't seen many with paws that human.

"Oh, just some accidental discovery Ignis made with his Grimm research. Something about simulating an incident that happened ages ago? I think it worked, sorta I'm at the opposite end of the lab by the way." The digital voice chimed playfully as lights in the lab activated to reveal the server. 

 

“I think we definitely found what Hazel was looking for but which one is it?” Mercury gave both of the discoveries a glance, Hazel certainly didn't make it easy with the vague description.

"Probably me, theoretical emotion simulating software assistant...er...that is a little long winded isn't it?" The digital voice replied with shyness in its tone. 

“Why not just Tessa for short?” Neo signed with a raised brow, she had heard of artificial intelligence before but never thought of anything like this.

“That's not a terrible idea ya know? Oh! Can my last name be Richter? But uh why are you guys here?” Tessa actually sounded a bit more human once they got closer to the server housing her core.

Emerald's jaw dropped, she wasn't into history in other departments but technology? She could probably put most biomechanics to shame if she bothered to try. She'd studied machine history nearly as long as she could walk. That not very subtle name drop was far more than coincidence. This Tessa thing was adapting to the situation as it was happening. Hazel wasn't too into Grimm, not after finding out something about their boss, this AI was definitely what he was looking for. 

"Ok, can we steal this thing before Emerald goes all geek mode on it?" Mercury wasn't at all interested in a job like this, the only reason he came, to begin with, was for the challenge. 

“Stealing? Is that something interesting? What does that mean?” Tessa's curiosity was piqued at the mention of a new concept. She had a lot to learn about humans, especially since eventually she'd be as close to human as a machine could get.

“It means that you're our property now, and you're going on a little trip with us.” Torchwick was somewhat amused by the childlike personality. Though the fact that it was childlike made this quite a bit easier.

 

\-----------------------------[Vale Airship Docks: Day Before the entrance exam]--------------------------------

"Why am I the only one waiting for a flight to Beacon?" Tobi questioned dryly as he activated the communicator in his arm. "And who's responsible for adding a two-way radio to my chipset?" At least his data scans had revealed how the device was active and how to work it on the way to Vale. 

"That would be my slightly too creative roommate; don't worry, she didn't rewire too much of the actual hardware. Although I'm pretty sure she only installed those upgrades cause' you were unconscious at the time and she couldn't resist." It was a girl's voice on the other end of the radio, one he hadn't heard yet during his stay in Atlas. 

“Chrome! Don't rat me out like that, yesh, what am I gonna do with you? Er, guilty as charged; sometimes once I start tinkering with electronics I just can't help my inventor's intuition.” Naya seemed to sound a lot less nervous around whoever this friend of hers was.

“Got any other features you just couldn't help installing? And why am I not on the private airship with the two of you?” Tobi wasn't really in any mood for surprises. He naturally wasn't in any sort of mood at all, it was just how he was. 

“Only like four; oh but they're mostly for your arm cannon. And it's kinda a long story, besides when Chrome gets overexcited in any way sometimes she kinda...grows. That's also sort of an even longer story but you'll find out eventually.” Naya sort of wanted to spoil the surprise but for now she figured she'd somehow keep his interest piqued.

Tobi felt his mechanical arm twitch slightly as the tinkerer mentioned that. Not only had she added new features, she neglected both telling him and explaining how they worked. The obvious answer was that none of the additional features were fully usable yet. He wasn't amused, but he could test things out the next time he ran into one of those creatures. As he admired the construction of the airship docks he found himself people watching. He saw people that clearly belonged to different cultures, something he never got a chance to do back in his time. There definitely seemed to be some social cliques forming already, chances were that would only escalate once they got to Beacon. He had been briefed on how things were handled at the academies, which meant he would need to work on teamwork.

“It's rude to stand behind someone and stare you know?” Tobi stated bluntly as he turned around to face someone behind him. Technically they were in line to get aboard the ship, but he was sure people watching was a bit different than a steely glare regardless of the person giving it.

"Pot, Meet Kettle." The young lady signed, Tobi couldn't guess her age from her build but she certainly looked the part. 

Tobi uncrossed his arms. "So she has heterochromia, is a mute and doesn't pull her punches. And has...interesting taste in hair dye and apparel." The outfit was just a white sort of tux and she had an umbrella on her person, but the tri-colored locks were distracting. 

"And the first prize for captain obvious goes to? But seriously kid, we both know ya gotta radio in that arm. Three things; who're ya working for, why should I care, and lastly the name's Neapolitan." Neo wasn't sure if she could take this one seriously or not, he looked trained, and he had a robot arm she'd have to look out for.

"That explains the hair color if you say it's all natural that's a joke I don't plan on laughing at." He had to admit Remnant had some odd genetics, but three hair colors were too much. "As for the other things, I work for myself; any third parties who profit of my instinct are unrelated. I doubt someone as skilled as you should care anyway, and the name's Tobi." He wanted to make it perfectly clear, especially to the ones potentially listening in on him. 

“Cute, like a kid your age could size an opponent up that easily. Also ow, my hair is natural ya little brat.” Neo wasn't sure if she could've taken his comment too seriously, he seemed deadly serious about working alone.

"I don't need to know my opponent to know my own limits, and at the moment you're far above them." Tobi's response was cold, he knew full well those. And they were what resulted in the whole time travel thing, to begin with. 

“At...the moment? You do realize who you're talking to?” Neo raised a brow, he was either really confident or really stupid, potentially both. Then again she couldn't even get a read on his Semblance or Aura skills, the former probably hadn't awakened yet but the latter should be obvious standing a few feet away from someone.

"Yup, a mute lass who thinks she's untouchable because of her Semblance. A word of caution miss, even semblances and aura have limits. I honestly can't get a read on you, and that's why I think whatever talents you have are wasted on pointless jobs." Tobi was entirely serious, he could see it in her eyes. He'd seen many a gifted Semblance user go south, some past the point of no return because of their skill. 

“Ow kid you certainly don't pull punches yourself,” Neo was moderately impressed, the kid already had an inkling of her skill level. “Just don't be cocky cause of your robo arm, you realize literally anyone with the credits for it has that level of tech now right?” She actually had a bit of curiosity, she couldn't tell if he was arrogant or stupid, likely both.

Tobi shrugged his shoulders. “This is true, anyhow I do have a flight to catch, and stop calling me kid. I am Tobi, no more and no less.” He figured that it had been long enough for the scanners in his arm to get a good bit of data about her abilities.

Tobi didn't know what to make of the enstranged mute as he boarded his flight. On one hand, she did have a point but otherwise, he was sure she was trying to get a read on how useful he'd be. There was a certain glint in her eyes that he both liked and hated, that spark of ideas reminded him of his mother. She was fairly skilled in her field and was all about trusting her instinct and being brazen enough to follow through. The part he hated reminded him of his father, a man bar none the top of his field but challenged on other fronts that he didn't fully understand. Tobi somehow landed in the middle of the pair, and that bugged him just a bit. Pleasing them both was tiring, but favoring one would send the other on a tirade. At some point, the overdrive technology was developed, and somehow they reached a moniker of peace. Everything past that point was a bit fuzzy and attempting to recall it only made his headache. 

"Is that a freaking robot-arm?!" The voice couldn't be any more shrill, it'd potentially shatter the glass windows on the airship. Not so much the tone, just the energy, it was far too much for a sixteen-year-old soon to be schoolmate.

“Yes? It is? Are you blind?” Tobi was frankly a bit annoyed, he was in the middle of replacing the dust crystals which powered his new drive motors. The process was delicate, and if performed incorrectly could damage the whole system.

The girl's red cloak matched her scythe, and her overall appearance was trying it's hardest to be the opposite of her disposition. He didn't know why, but Tobi had a feeling mentioning Brownen to the hyperactive teenager was a bad idea. Despite her age, she was shorter than him by about a foot, a clear reason she had far too much energy. He couldn't gauge her skill level, but clearly, she had enough talent to skip a year or two of whatever pre-Academy hunter training Vale had. 

"Can it extend? Does it have a rocket fist? Can it shoot actual rockets? Sound cannon?" Her voice was getting more shrill by the minute. Her enthusiasm for technology was amusing but equally annoying. 

"In order?" Tobi paused and closed the chamber since he had finished replacing the crystals. "No, potentially an innuendo so no, not happening any time soon and...working on it. It does have a railgun though." Hopefully, that response would sate her curiosity, it was obvious she meant well but he wasn't in a friend making mood. 

"Ruby, you're embarrassing me...let's leave our obviously annoyed soon to be classmate to his work. Sorry, ya know...sisters, first day at a new school and way too many cookies for breakfast." The tall blonde in a yellow biker ish tank top had saved him from yet another question. 

"Yes, they can certainly T.e.s.s.a. your patients at times," Tobi put a hand to his chin after realizing something he hadn't noticed before. "That word you mentioned; what exactly does it mean?" He did his best not to look puzzled, but there was only so much he could do with muted emotions. 

The blonde smirked, "You seriously don't know what annoyed is?" She seemed both inwardly amused and obviously doubtful of his question. 

Tobi had to take a moment to find the right way to phrase it without it sounding absurd. In truth he really didn't know that phrase; he had always been somewhat content for lack of a better word. He could tell she was far more willing to humor him at any rate, either out of curiosity or for the sake of an interesting story to tell. Either way, her intrigue seemed harmless enough, and he figured he'd only encounter her once. 

“Does this look like a joking face to you?” Tobi's expression was about as humorless and dry as his delivery of that statement.

"Yo you really aren't joking, are you? I guess being annoyed is like hmm," She stopped to think, crossing her arms. "I dunno, being cheesed off when ya fail a level; or maybe begrudgingly doing homework for someone else. Or tolerating an idiot family member putting a step-sister on a-what's the deal?" She froze when Tobi put a hand up to signal her to stop giving examples. 

"You answer one enigma with yet more enigmas is the deal. Still, my instinct tells me there's a story behind that last one." Tobi had stopped her because he'd noticed her aura flaring a bit. "I may view emotion like most view a certain block puzzle with colors, but even I know the healing capabilities of an open ear. At the moment I'm barely invested but if you're ever that desperate for a brick wall to talk to..." He wasn't entirely sure why he cared, but he knew a sibling rivalry when he saw one even if what little he glimpsed might be barely there at all. 

 

"The emotionally stunted stoic wants to console me on family matters," The blonde shrugged and put a hand on her hip. "Thanks but I'll pass, it's a minor thing at worst. That's still a cool arm though, almost makes me wish I could use one." She was about to introduce herself, but the so-called sister had squealed again, apparently, they could see Beacon from this location. 

“My emotion is...stunted? An odd statement, what on earth do you-and she's gone.” Tobi sighed, this is why he always hesitated to converse with females. Their personalities were so varied yet could be grouped into a formulaic pattern of sorts, not that there was anything wrong with that.

The rest of the day was fairly hectic, getting adjusted to school grounds was surprisingly easy. Everything else, however, was nearly a train wreck, one he and his unlikely teammate barely survived. Whoever trained them was highly skilled, with both Naya and Chrome exempt from the dean's entry exam they barely edged out a victory. The team naming ceremony was troublesome too since apparently Chrome's sense of direction somehow landed her across town. He wasn't thrilled to have three of the opposite gender on his team, but he figured he could live with it. With the few hours he'd spent with his team, Tobi was certain of one thing. Deciphering why Ozpin placed his team of wildly different temperaments together was a waste of time. In the next few days, he had instead chosen to deliberate on another matter when he had the time alone. During his poor performance in sparring class, Glynda had pulled him aside. She mentioned something about telegraphing less and communicating more. 

"Ah, what a peculiar gesture..." Tobi could only watch in mild bemusement, two of the girls in team RWBY had lept slightly into the air and thrust their palms together. Judging from their jubilant tone, it was some form of celebrating. 

"Dude I don't know you but I doubt even apathetics haven't heard of a high-five." Yang's words were characteristically blunt, not so much rude or calculated, but blunt regardless. 

Tobi tilted his head. “I see; so that is what a high five is? Might I pry a bit and find out what you were celebrating?” He couldn't have been any more curious if he tried, social interaction was so far removed from him that his only experience was at business meetings.

"Ozpin approved us for a mission to investigate some weird robot sightings lately. He said something about our natural chemistry helping our teamwork or something." Rose seemed significantly more calm than the first time he encountered her, probably from the first week at a new school buzz dying down. 

"Weird robot sightings? Why would he trust you lot with such a task," That phrase brought back some memories and not good ones. "I hope you're not getting in over your heads if it's the bot I'm thinking of. Still, may I also congratulate you four on being chosen for said investigation?" From what Ironwood and Brownen had told him, Ozpin's decision-making skills weren't always the brightest. Tobi sort of hoped it was merely the old man recognizing their talent. 

 

"Seriously, you're asking permission to congratulate us?" Yang seemed more amused than annoyed as she raised her hand. "I guess you can, but only with a high five." She replied with a bit of mischievousness in her tone. 

Tobi wasn't certain, but Yang seemed to have a point in her statement. The whole point of congratulating someone was a reward or recognizing skill. It would be rather silly then, to have to ask the one being congratulated for permission to do so. As he raised his right hand up, memories came rushing back. He remembered project Tessa, what it meant for artificial intelligence, and how exactly it all went downhill. His arm sparked a bit as his palm made contact with Yangs, it was indeed a traditional gesture. What was untraditional however was the fact that his arm released an audible shockwave which propelled miss Xiao Long several feet backward. Even more unusually, she passed through two walls from the kinetic force, unscathed from the impact. 

“I am OK, bleh” Was all Yang said as she pretended to pass out from pain, which clearly she wasn't in.

"Is that woman indestructible?" Tobi thought aloud with a raised brow, he was impressed she was conscious enough to make light of the situation at least. 

"Nope, just Yang, so uh...what actually just happened?" Miss Schnee seemed unphased, clearly, this kind of thing happened to that teammate often enough for it to be a bore. 

"If I could hazard a guess; most likely the laws of physics having a lovers quarrel between how my rail canon and unfinished sonic canon work. As well as howXiao Long's semblance interacted with them just now. Frankly, I have no logical answer for what caused the glitch in my hardware, to begin with." Tobi did find it somewhat amusing how used to such antics the group already were. They were certainly leagues above the cooperation within his team. 

In truth, Tobi did know what caused the glitch, and it was an inconceivable source at least for him. Ever since he'd gotten the overdrive he hadn't felt a thing, beyond actual pain the way most normal people do. The memory that would likely trigger such a response was a load bearing one, something he felt responsible for. Namely a cataclysmic event that happened to be part of what caused Mantle to go poof. Well not poof exactly, it was more of a kaboom than anything. The only thing he was responsible for on that project was the activation and deactivation devices. He had accounted for every potential outcome except for one, human error. Or rather an artificial intelligence attempting to handle that flaw. It did not end well if he knew what guilt was he was pretty sure that'd give him some. 

"Come on, tell us your Semblance; Naya controls temperature, I can alter my size at will and three of Tobi's limbs are modular cybernetic tools of butt kicking." Chrome and the others had been discussing the links between aura, semblance, and personality for the past hour. The raw data was interesting, but Tobi couldn't test his theories just yet. 

"Nay silly fox lady, Tenebres will not reveal her Semblance. Mostly cause she promised mother she wouldn't until the time was right. That time is not now, it will be soon but that is a ways away. Mother gets angry when rules are broken, so no telling." Tenebres replied with a serious tone, the girl's unorthodox dialect made her tricky to understand at times. 

 

"Ah...so it's a secret, and what kind of secret is it that you can't share your semblance with your teammates?" Tobi was curious, due to her being so adamant about not revealing it and apparently angering her mother was a bad idea. He couldn't help but raise a brow as Tenebres walked over to the light switch for their dorm room. 

“The seeeecreet kind!” Tenebres chimed devilishly as she turned out the lights, while the lights were off, glowing red eyes showed her position.

"Uh, maybe we shouldn't pry too much into Tenebres's personal life," Naya gave Chrome a stern glare as the lights came back on, the group had been spooked by Tenebres's trick but Chrome jumping into her arms was beyond silly. So she elected to drop her teammate as soon as she was able. "Is something the matter Tobi, you look like your gears have been grinding all night." She normally wouldn't pry, and Tobi likely had his reasons to remain quiet. However, he had almost been too quiet since Glynda's lecture on teamwork and coordination after they botched their first mission. 

"Hmm? Oh nothing too serious, I was considering giving you lot a label...er-decoration." Tobi stopped to think about his phrasing for a moment. "Let me finish, this is no mere species classification or degrading culture label. It is far more significant, something that only applied to my mother's closest coworkers and friends." He felt a little relieved when the brief bit of tension in the air waned. "From this day forth, until your ethical values give me a reason to doubt this decision; you lot will be my Nakama." Tobi had to focus as he said it, this was the first time he'd ever genuinely uttered the phrase. 

"Yay!" Tenebres pounced on Tobi, tackling him to the ground in excitement. "Tenebres will be good Nakama, you'll see, you'll see! Erm...question...what is a Nakama?" She seemed excited about the concept at least. 

"Please remove your person from mine and I will tell you." Tobi stretched after the excitable girl that made a diving board jealous got off of him. "I must apologize, the multiple century language barriers has caused a lapse in judgment. A Nakama is...a comrade, someone who's bonds run thicker than blood or species; but most importantly, it means friend or family depending on how you pronounce it." He explained with what barely registered as a smile on his face as he spoke. 

Tobi was almost certain they would either tease him or balk at the thought of humans and Faunus working on a team together. The kind of comradery he was talking about was hard to come by in anything other than a fairy tale. It wasn't the kind of thing noteworthy foes would take lightly, so he didn't want to squander the notion. Either way, his concerns seemed unwarranted, the kind of grins they were giving him were welcoming. Although it was clear from at least Chrome's body language that they were in fact about to mess with him. Logically this would have lead to another disaster, so he braced himself mentally for it. 

"Aww, that's actually...sweet, I mean a touch condescending but still!" Naya's response seemed fully heartfelt, he'd grown to understand the notes of her song well. 

"What you expecting us to go 'they grow up so fast' and all that noise?" Chrome paused to stretch her arms, she always seemed full of energy. "Sorry mister stoic mc steel buns, but I don't buy it. Not yet anyway, you say next to nothing for over a week and suddenly you want to butter us up! Please, I'm not normally the grown-up of this situation but I'm reservin my judgment till I see proof you aren't just another shmuck like Cardin got it?" Despite her joking tone, her statement on the matter was laser-focused. He had almost expected this exact reaction, though not quite in that way. 

Tobi put a hand to his chin. "Yes I am stoic and yes my buns are in fact made of steel; as for your comment about Cardin. I'm not entirely sure what a shmuck is, but it sounds demeaning so I will attempt to not be one." He paused and turned to face Tenebres, who appeared deep in thought. "And what about you? Are we not worthy of your little pack or tribe or whatever?" He actually was curious, since Tenebres was quieter than him which would be saying a lot. She rarely spoke except to explain her actions or to agree to follow orders given to her. 

"Mergrgr, Tenebres will not be patronized for how she sees friends and family. What Tenebres will do is do her best to be Nakama! There are few words Tenebres knows well, but friend, family, comrade, all very important yes!" Her butchered English was almost charming, even if the third person self-referencing got a tad cringe-worthy at times. 

“I...see...” That statement was a tad blunt, but at least she got her point across. “I need some air, apologies but your 'girl talk' is suffocating.” Not that Tobi minded it too terribly, at least it was concepts he could wrap his head around over actual girl talk.

To be entirely blunt, Tobi knew their statements could have gone a lot worse than they had. His logical side wanted to blame being honest with his words. But then again he was almost certain it was because he did the irrational thing and opened up to them a bit. At least he didn't have a random impulse to talk about the power of friendship or whatever. That would get annoying with repeated viewings at every conflict. He really didn't know what the future held, but at the very least things were less boring now.


	3. A Grimm Memory Pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobi's frustration with the symptoms of stasis lock grow as his combat awareness slowly returns to its initial state. An outburst during a spar with Yang shows some of his full potential. After a visit to Ozpin's office regarding an intriguing name drop Tobi has a rough start with Penny. Fortunately her oblivious and kind nature gets through to him in time. Ozpin gives team DOTY/RWBY a challenging mission.

 

One would think that after a few months of being awake after who knows how many years of stasis would bring his body back to full steam. Sadly Tobi's calculations on this matter were grossly underestimated. It wasn't so much that he didn't have time to train, Good Witch's class more than made up for that. No, it was the constant musings on each and every emotion, their role in his life and if it would be worth the energy to master them. His musings were unfortunately an utterly pointless baseline, he needed an outside source to learn from. That was the basis of making the other members of his team his Nakama.

 

But between adapting to school, the absurd but fitting teachings of a Hunter academy and seeking out the missing Tessa unit; there was very little room for error in judgement let alone study practices. If he was at his prime he'd doubtless be able to almost effortlessly keep up. However Tobi knew full well the effects of stasis lock, a condition that can occur when one is put in stasis for far too long. If his estimates were right, he was currently at maybe fifty percent of his full capacity.

 

“Excellent work miss Orion, though I do wish you'd spar with someone besides Arc for once. I don't think his pride can keep up with your winning streak. And please refrain from your fighting game terminology while in actual combat, it's a waste of energy.” Glynda's critique was blunt but fair as usual, though Tobi couldn't stand her almost smug grin as she gave it.

 

“Hey! I resent that statement; even if it's partially true.” Juane's statement was either sarcastic or ironic, most likely both.

 

“O-oh! I've b-been picking him this whole semester? I barely noticed!” Naya wasn't the type to play dumb, but in this one instance she absolutely had to.

 

“Why do you pick Juane so often? You are aware that there are far better sparring partners?” Glynda was admittedly curious, and it likely showed in her body language.

 

“I er, like the way he swings his sword?” Naya blushed immediately after she said it when Xiao Long busted out into a rolling laughter. She knew exactly why even though the pun itself was as bad as Juane's footing.

 

“Ahem-yes that's an admirable reason I suppose; even though he somehow makes swish swish stab actually complicated.” Glynda wasn't positive as to how, but Arc seemed equally skilled and untalented at his chosen weapon.

 

Tobi wasn't even sure he could call Glynda's methods of education a class really. Sure sparring was a good learning tool yes, but she was doing little to refine her students performance outside her critique. Peter Ports and Doctor Oobleck were both competent instructors of their field though he had to contain his internal screaming when the historian of the pair started going on about mantle. Ports on the other hand was entertaining, while he had a difficult time staying awake for Good Witch's class. The bouts themselves were interesting, it was just the monotony of hearing her critique and waiting his turn. When his name did come up he almost locked up deciding who to choose every day. It really didn't help that he was going on extra jobs on top of the missions with his team either. Needless to say he wasn't exactly tired, the proper expression would be burning the candle at both ends.

 

“Must you prance like that miss sunny yellow dragon? You realize you're wasting energy?” Tobi could have simply used her last name, but the actual meaning of the phrase was far more puzzling.

 

“Prancing? It's the switch step man, and it's an important part of daddy-jitsu.” Yang had already sparred with Tobi a few times, she figured she could relax with this match.

 

“Daddy...jitsu-I see; it's a pun because Tai Yang is a joke to fight sometimes?” Tobi did recall Yang's father being a point to vent about. His sparring matches after classes just ended up being their go to way to blow off steam.

 

“Ouch, you really don't pull punches in class; it looks like I won't have to go easy on ya then!” Yang did her best to hide her smirk, it was inwardly amusing how quickly the emotionally stunted bookworm got how people ticked. The guy could seriously make a carrear out of bouncing off of people if he could fix his attitude a bit.

 

Overall sparring with miss Xiao Long was infuriating in some ways while enlightening in others. Her style lacked grace of any kind yet she displayed potential as a close range brawler. Tobi's frustration with this was due to being used to training against armed opponents rather than direct hand to hand. It wouldn't be as bad if she didn't spend so much energy making her moves as fancy looking as possible. Such a childlike approach to mixed martial arts was admirable but faulty at best since it made her easy to read. He could spot her every strike from orbit, yet she was just quick enough for him to not be able to react in time. On the off chance he did manage to block a strike, it was either a second early or a second late, meaning he took the full force of it. Thankfully the only limb he really had to protect from that was his left arm, everything else he could just fix.

 

“Come on Tobi, why're your swings so slow today? It ain't like you to sandbag!” Tobi knew it was Yang's voice, but those words froze him in place.

_“Getting slow already Tobi? You know full well sandbagging will get you nowhere.”_

 

Tobi hated admitting it, but there were times where he did feel pretty slow compared to other martial artists. His reflexes and calculations were there, but there was a latency error he couldn't quite shake. Yang's words stirred a memory he wished he'd forgotten, a particularly one sided bout with an instructor who always pushed him forward. He was a powerful man, even if his encouragement wasn't always the best line of thought. He always had this smug cat-grin, while his fiance seemed equally entertained. That day was particularly brutal since he had awoken a semblance he'd yet to tame three days prior. Frankly that memory was fairly bitter, especially with the stasis degradation hindering his ability to wake his semblance from it's slumber. If only he had an idea of what his semblance was he could use his instinct along with the guidance of others to move forward.

 

“You should know by now, that sandbags are for punching right? Here! Let me show you Ozma!” Tobi gathered all his strength for one strike, not paying attention to the arm he was focusing it into.

 

“Tobi I understand you're usually a bit sour after losing a spar; but this amount of unnecessary force is uncharacteristic even for you.” Glynda was more shocked by that last part rather than the fact that he'd taken wind out of Xiao Long's sails with that one strike. That wasn't a name one would have spoken with such familiar terms, to think he was actually in stasis that long.

 

“Jackpot; did he just say what I think he-ow.” Mercury bit his tongue when his teammate stepped in to silence him.

 

“Idiot! I'm seriously considering paying you to shut up this time; you'll blow our cover.” Emerald was far from amused as she spoke, they were in the presence of the deans secretary for the brother's sake.

 

By the time Tobi had snapped out of his brief fit of anger Yang was already staggering backward and out of breath. It didn't take him long to calculate the exact psi he unleashed on her abdomen when he saw the small spot of blood she'd likely coughed up. This would take an extraordinary amount of force on a normal person, and Yang once walked off being kicked through not one but three cement support pillars for a bridge. The memory that had struck a nerve was gone, which aggravated him further as he assessed how best to respond to this situation. He first gave Goodwitch a slight bow as he found the words for how he felt.

 

“Apologies Glynda; there's some new tech in both my legs and my arm that I am...less than acquainted with. While I accept that the error was mine, it seemed wise to alert you to this matter. As for you Yang, my apologies as well; I hereby forfeit my victory to you. I assure you both this mistake will not happen again.” Tobi was acting on pure logic at the moment, it was the only way to come to terms with what exactly went wrong.

 

“Tobi Kandezume, please report to my office immediately; come prepared. I have some questions regarding your outburst today. You may report my request to the rest of team DOTY if you deem their aid needed.” Ozpin didn't sound angry at least, in a way his tone seemed almost intrigued by something.

 

Tobi didn't know Ozpin that well since the dean rarely showed himself to the students. Whenever he needed something he would always have Glynda take care of it. While he wasn't all that familiar with school based education he knew exactly what a call to the principals office meant. There were three logical outcomes, but judging from what just happened it wasn't going to be praise for skill. He braced himself for the worst and weighed his options, just like he always did at those business meetings. Whatever he'd done a few moments ago had obviously piqued his interest though, even Glynda seemed thrown off by that name.

 

“Tobi, I'm no psychiatrist but is something...troubling you as of late? You've been going on your private investigations for some time. Further your teammates report that you haven't been sleeping well at all. Since today was your first incident I'm not going to punish you if your reason is logical enough.” Ozpin's tone was serious as he spoke from behind his desk.

 

“Troubling?” Tobi paused and tilted his head. “It's more vexing than anything, a certain individual has fallen into the hands of an idiot. She's normally harmless; but once she sets her mind to do something she'll evolve until she can achieve her set goal.” Tobi had a feeling that he was speaking more about his own physical condition.

 

“What do you mean she'll evolve, and is there anything else hindering you?” Now Ozpin was curious to find out about this individual that Tobi was investigating.

 

“Barring a certain someone who is protected by Atlas military far too much; she is a powerful AI unit. She's capable of evolving due to the nanomachines that house the program itself. As for my personal condition, there is the fact that I can't wake my semblance like I once could. I have made steady strides in all other studies except that.” Tobi wasn't sure if mentioning that was a good idea, but he thought it too critical to ignore.

 

Ozpin frowned. “Once more?” He paused and put a hand on the green gem mounted on the tip of his staff. “You mean to say someone woke it for you? That's...highly unusual to say the least; unprecedented even.” There was a bit of surprise in his tone as he spoke, and a bit of caution as well.

 

“He was somewhat of a mentor, who's name I can't remember at the moment. A powerful man folish enough to play games in order to test his own limits. He's likely gone from history though, he was only around in my time.” Tobi barely remembered what the man looked like, only that he was always accompanied by a cup of warm coffee and a loyal staff.

 

“Tobi, trusting others is the first step to learning what emotion is and how it works. I can see that you took the first step in opening up to your teammates, so I've prepared something for you.” Ozpin pulled out a small box with the Schnee family's emblem on it and slid it slowly over to Tobi.

 

Tobi was moderately perplexed at the strange offering, he thought he had been called to the office to be punished and yet the dean offered a gift? The box contained some finely carved dust crystals, in the shape of quarts rock or some such gem. They weren't any old dust crystals either, the highest quality, and one of each currently possible element. The amount of research he could complete with such samples was a veritable treasure trove. He could already picture the sparkles in Naya's eyes if she got her mitts on them, unfortunately he knew it had a cost.

 

“What's the catch? I'm no fool old man, not an infant to be bribed by sweets to behave either.” Tobi made it clear with his nearly monotone delivery, he had been around the business block a few times. He didn't know what Ozpin's game was, and frankly he didn't really need to.

 

“Your words wound me Tobi; really they do.” Ozpin sighed and shook his head. “It is because of your experience that I want you to be the best...well you that you can be. When Amber commented on your aura I was intrigued to say the least. So please take your time, but a telepath may help speed things along a bit.” He had been caught off guard by that, Tobi was indeed as sharp as the history books had said.

 

“A what?” Tobi genuinely tilted his head at that phrase, he knew Semblances could be anything but he hadn't heard of something like that.

 

“Someone who can read minds Tobi; I'm certain there's at least one among the students here. Since you won't share what's going on in your brain you might as well find someone who can do it for you. Now I'm only going to ask this one more time, who was this Ozma to you?” Ozpin wasn't certain the boy had made the connection, nobody ever did, but he had to be cautious.

 

“I...see, and as far as Ozma goes; he barely registers in my memory, I'd forgotten his name up until the point you brought it up again. That name isn't important to me now, stasis-based memory loss and all that. I will take measures not to go spouting it so wildly in the future as it seems to have struck one of your nerves.” Tobi wanted to say it was more that he didn't want to remember, but that'd be incredibly rude to his long dead friend.

 

The rest of the meeting went about as expected, a report on all the extra missions he'd been on mainly. Ozpin had an unusual air about him, one that his charisma sometimes betrayed, as if Ozpin the dean was just his work face. Now, Tobi could understand why his loyal friends were cautious about giving the man information. He had this almost dark passion for what he was planning, even if it was for the good of everyone, it was awkward to say the least. Ozpin was much like many of the businessmen who crawled out of the woodwork whenever his father or especially his mother made an advancement. There was still a lot of good in the man, but there was something sour about him too.

 

* * *

 

 

“Come on, you're the only mechanic besides himself that he trusts. Ya gotta have some juicy info on him?” Yang had been pestering Naya for almost an hour while waiting for the person in question to arrive.

 

“S-sorry, Tobi doesn't really talk about himself all that much; the closest thing to opening up he's done was calling us his Nakama. He's a little bit strict and curt at times; however it's clear what his intent is when you talk with him r-right? He's told us where he's from and what his position was in his father's company and...that's about it.” Naya was surprised Tobi could be patient with Yang, she seemed so forward and nosey on top of being loaded with energy all the time.

 

“Uwah, ow, ow, ow-oh that smarts!” A fifteen year old girl who lacked any curves at all had been knocked into a nearby tree away from the group.

 

“Penny? Where did...you come from?” Ruby raised a brow at the newcomer to the conversation as she watched the girl awkwardly stumble to her feet.

 

Penny was slightly taller than Ruby, wore a green and silver dress and had body language about as awkward as a toaster turned on it's side. Her black hair, silvery skin and emerald green eyes betrayed the perky attitude she had. She was what you'd get if you had mixed Yang and Ruby's personalities together. She wasn't exactly normal either, and a secret of hers was kept only between team RWBY and a select few others. It was clear that she had been fighting someone from the light scuff marks on her skin. Though it was rare to see Penny with anything resembling bruises, her opponent was either really strong, really stupid, or both at the same time.

 

“That's quite enough Tess, quit resisting so we can get you back to the lab and examine your core programming.” Tobi was far from amused, not only had she changed her appearance but she took on an entirely new personality too. It would take weeks of decoding to reverse whatever damage Roman and his idiocy had done to her.

 

“Grr, I already told you,” Penny paused and stood up before leaping toward him. “My. Name. Is. Penny!” Jetstreams at the bottom of her feet propelled her forward at a lightning quick speed, but Tobi had seen it coming and blocked it.

 

“Being stubborn as usual I see, then I shall show you how 'battle ready' I am!” Tobi had flung her over his shoulder and into the nearby wall with enough force that there was an impact crater and cracks as well.

 

Tobi was impressed with how tenacious she was being this time compared to when they had first woken from stasis. She had completely changed fighting styles, along with her tone and demeanor. The tech she had packed away was very different as well. No matter, a simple blast from his enhanced arm canon would soon get her back to square one.

 

“Penny! Are you ok?” Ruby had bolted over to her friends side in a millisecond.

 

“It's A-OK Ruby, I think he's just being shy. Look, he's waving!” Penny was oblivious as ever as she watched Tobi's right arm transform into a small rail gun. “Or...not waving, definitely not waving.” She finished as her eyes lit up with excitement, finally somebody not mister Ironwood with something in common.

 

“Tobi No! You can't just blast whoever you want!” Ruby had stood in front of Penny after helping her stand up, that canon was as cool as it was dangerous.

 

“Step aside Rose, this has nothing to do with you; and...why not?” Tobi raised a brow, Tessa was clearly malfunctioning, if he didn't stop her there was no telling what would happen.

 

“Because that's not the droid you're looking fo-ow!” Yang's quip was cut off by Naya reaching up and bonking her on the back of her head. “Geeze, somebody had to say it; but seriously, open your eyes dude.” Yang finished with a smirk on her face, still inwardly amused at the pun she'd almost made.

 

“Because she's...my friend? Isn't that enough?” Ruby was surprised that he even had the patients to ask if that was the case.

 

“It's ok Ruby, we just got started on the wrong foot; so I'm gonna get on his right one.” Penny awkwardly moved around Ruby and walked toward Tobi, outstretching a hand. “Ahem, salutations-I'm Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you.” She said this while giving him the most innocent looking eyes she could muster.

 

Now Tobi wasn't exactly born yesterday, he would be able to tell if a machine was attempting a prank. If this wasn't Tessa, then there was only one logical answer for who it could be. Despite his secresy doctor Light's pet project snuck out and even made a friend. Moreover that friend unflinchingly believed that this thing was as much a person as him or Yang were. Overall the situation wouldn't look too great if he kept fighting her. So he retracted his mini-rail canon back into his arm and attempted to shake hands with her.

 

“It appears my instinct was in...error, my apologies miss Penny; I am Tobi, it's er-nice to meet you...or something?” Tobi was piss poor at non formal greetings, he was so used to being business proper that normal interactions were close to impossible. Shaking her hand was even more awkward, metal hands felt different even with synthetic skin over them

 

“Pff-or...something? What's that about dude? Never interacted with someone your age before?” Yang actually had to raise a brow at that, Tobi wasn't the type to get so easily flustered. Then again he made Juane's interactions less awkward at the dance.

 

“I'm just not familiar with social norms on the whole-in case you forgot about our whole exchange earlier with high fives.” Tobi was certain that if he could tie an emotion to his current situation it'd be embarrassment or perhaps humility. “If you can make light of the current situation then perhaps you could aid me in waking my semblance?” He really wasn't pleased with how little progress he'd made on that front.

 

Honestly a school year had come and gone capping off with a more than awkward social event called a prom. Tobi had made great strides in recovering his physical skills, as noted by his ability to at least keep up with Penny. His semblance was still an enigma that needed solving and Ozpin's very clear hint with the dust crystals yesterday hadn't gained him any insight.

 

“Simplest solution would be to put yourself against a wall-and live to tell about it. Plenty of semblances are activated that way, and seeing how instinct driven you are well...yeah, that may help.” Yang's chipper tone as she spoke was betrayed her kind words, clearly something had happened and it wasn't pleasant at all.

 

“That's an interesting proposal, miss Yang, but how would I go about doing that and you know-not die in the process.” Tobi was curious enough to make an attempt at such an endeaver if only for the sake of testing another variable.

 

“A dangerous mission to eliminate a dangerous Grimm that we shouldn't be taking yet might work; our team does it all the time.” Ruby stated with a little bit of sarcasm in her tone, they had only done that twice and both times they almost ended up busted for it.

 

“I actually have just the job for that; anything to help my students grow as a team. There's an abandoned dust mine generating odd tremors lately and we believe it may be due to a Grimm. Sadly Atlus doesn't have the manpower to handle it, so how bout it? Up for a little challenge?” Ozpin was having a pleasant stroll with Goodwitch as he approached the group and overheard the last leg of the conversation.

 

“Sounds simple enough-just alow the rest of my team to get ready. What's that grin for?” Tobi raised a brow at the dean, Ozpin seemed amused as if he'd won a hand of poker.

 

“The rest of your team won't be coming; they and the other half of team RWBY are on a similar mission. Think of it as a different kind of training, you know teams get split up all the time after all.” Ozpin explained as he shrugged his shoulders. “Don't worry, you won't be flying blind; I've set up a perfectly reasonable mentor for this mission.” He finished rather seriously as another familiar face joined the group.

 

“A mission? With these three?” Tobi took a step back and gave the three teens a puzzled look.

 

It wasn't so much the confidence Ozpin seemed to have in his plan, it was how sudden it came up. Tobi had just barely gotten used to his own teams dynamics, and almost as if a game the dean of the school had decided to switch it up. He'd heard stories about team RWBY's miracle odds apparently by flying by the seat of their pants. He wasn't doubting their ability, just his own and his natural instinct under fire. Tobi often liked working alone for that reason, he was trained to be an efficient machine and nothing less.

 

“What, are we not refined enough for your tastes? I've sparred with you like a dosen times, give us a chance.” Yang stated bluntly as she offered Tobi her left hand to see if his skill had improved.

 

“I have no doubts of your caliber under fire, just...no calling me 'bro' or 'dude' and I'll make due.” Tobi made a cautionary effort to complete the handshake with his right hand. Yang's awkward grin accompanied by a wince was telling.

 

“You really need to get that fixed, so when do we leave for the mission?” Yang was amused and relieved at the same time, anything was better than the high five incident.

 

“Three days should be enough time for you all to reunite with the other half of your teams and prepare for your own task. I look forward to the results of your hard work especially Tobi, don't let me down.” Ozpin stated seriously as he began to leave the group, he needed time to find a mentor for the mission too.

 

“Tch, no pressure old man,” Tobi stated underneath his breath, now he knew what Ozpin was up to.

 

It was obvious that Ozpin was plotting to brute force him into awakening his Semblance. Tobi had an idea of what to test, but no adequate target to try it out on. This mission in theory would be just what he needed, and with luck he'd come out of the experience a bit more enlightened about the opposite gender. It wasn't exactly his fault the ratio was two to one in the favor of females among the student body. There was still just too much he didn't know about how their minds worked or how they solved logical problems.


End file.
